Which beach were you near? I just got an e-mail from Phil Roberts on Wind
Dreams at Phi Phi Don. He experienced about the same thing. He was in 45'
of water and bumped the bottom as the water went out. Said it was more like
a bathtub draining and refilling really fast. The wave didn't crest until
about 200 yards from the beach. A lot of smaller boats closer in were
picked up by the crest and thrown ashore. (At leat the S140 I sold him held
through two 360 spins.)

Ton Sai Bay is a total wreck. Judy went ashore to help out in a makeshift
first aid station at the Cabana hotel and Phil has moved his boat around to
Loh Moo Dee on the East side in clear water and is running his watermaker
full blast to help supply the hotel.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

wrote in message
oups.com...

We are a cruising boat and was anchored in one of the bays on the
southwest side of Phuket (Thailand) when the tsunami struck. We were
anchored in 14 metres of water some half a Nm from the beach. The boat
swung around at anchor as the water level initially fell. As the water
returned the water rose about 2-3 metres just like a massive tide rise.
At this stage the wave had not broken. As the water was within 100
metres from the beach where the depth was about 3-4 metres the wave
broke sending huge volumes of water onto the beach and surrounding
foreshore area. About 100 cruising boats were anchored in the bay (all
survived).
Cars and buildings were hurled into the air as the force was dissipated
along the foreshore. A friends dinghy on the shore ended up on the top
of a concrete structure about 6 metres above the water line. A power
transformer neerby was torn from the concrete pole and landed near the
dinghy. The tops of concrete structures were literally blown off the
buildings. Other cruising boats at sea felt no effect of the tsunami.
I guess the luck we had was the deep water bay and distance we anchored
off the beach.
Tony
S/V Ambrosia